On March 23, Zhang Zhaoguo, Vice President of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, met with a delegation from University College Dublin (UCD) led by Dolores O'Riordan, Vice President of UCD, at the Minhang Campus. The two sides held in-depth discussions on topics including interdisciplinary collaboration, innovation and entrepreneurship education, joint student training, and research cooperation. Professor Yin Shan, Vice Dean of the School of Agriculture and Biology overseeing international affairs, attended the meeting and represented the School in the exchanges.

Vice President Zhang Zhaoguo noted that the flourishing development of China-Ireland relations and the increasingly close exchanges between higher education institutions in the two countries offer broad prospects for expanding and deepening collaboration between the two universities. As both are members of the U21 university network, they have built a solid foundation of mutual trust over the years. He expressed the hope that this trust could be translated into tangible outcomes, sparking new ideas in areas such as student exchanges, joint training programs, faculty visits, and research collaboration.

Dolores O’Riordan highlighted that University College Dublin, as Ireland’s national university, places great emphasis on cultivating students’ critical thinking and diverse experiences. She noted that the strengthening ties between Ireland and China make the present an opportune time for educational cooperation between the two countries. She also outlined UCD’s development plans in fields such as green technology, biomedicine, and artificial intelligence, expressing anticipation for deeper collaboration with SJTU in areas including sustainable development, agriculture and food science, healthcare, and the humanities and social sciences.

During the exchanges, Professor Yin Shan remarked that the School of Agriculture and Biology at Shanghai Jiao Tong University possesses strong research capabilities and a robust talent pool in plant science, animal science, food science and engineering, and resources and environment—areas that align well with UCD’s academic priorities. Both sides expressed hope that this meeting would serve as an opportunity to establish collaborative mechanisms in student exchanges and research cooperation.

As the only top-tier university in Ireland with a dedicated School of Agriculture and Food Science, University College Dublin is widely recognized internationally for its academic strength and industrial influence in the field. Its agricultural science discipline ranks 24th globally and 6th in Europe in the US News World University Rankings; its food science and technology discipline ranks 11th globally and 2nd in Europe; and its agriculture and forestry discipline ranks 64th globally in the QS World University Rankings.